About the book

Project success is a business management responsibility and project management is more than the work of a project manager: the project sponsor plays a key role, whatever their job title. As the owner of the business case, the project sponsor or project executive has the responsibility for communicating the aims of the project, staying in touch with the changing environment and ultimately using their leadership skills to realize the benefits that the project has set out to achieve. The project sponsor gives strategic direction to the project manager and empowers them to deliver the agreed result. However, as a busy business manager, balancing the role of project executive with other management responsibilities, the project sponsor wants more control for less effort. The four proven principles in Successful Project Sponsorship help them to achieve precisely that.

This book leads the reader to success through the powerful and proven four principles of successful project sponsorship. These principles are all focused on giving strategic direction to projects effectively and efficiently. Instead of going into depth on project management theory and methodologies, this book answers the practical questions project sponsors have to tackle and provides targeted solutions to real-life issues, such as: How do I create a successful strategy? How do I keep a project under control when the requirements are changing? What can I do to keep the project on budget? How do I recognize a good project manager - and how do I deal with an out-of-control one? The final part of the book gives tried-and-tested practical guidance on how to improve project sponsorship knowledge within your organization.

Written clearly and concisely for the busy executive, in line with the PMI's Lexicon of Project Management Terms and with special tips for Prince2 environments and agile projects, this highly practical guide is the essential toolkit all business managers need to make a success of their project sponsor role.

About the authors

Michiel van der Molen

Michiel van der Molen, MSc, is a consultant and trainer in project governance, change management and benefits management. He has held the roles of project manager, interim manager, adviser and teacher, and has managed teams of project managers for many years. He has worked in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Tanzania.

Table of contents

Section - 1: Introduction to Part 1: The four principles of successful project sponsorship;

Chapter - 01: The first principle: share the business case;

Chapter - 02: The second principle: organize ownership;

Chapter - 03: The third principle: focus on deliverables;

Chapter - 04: The fourth principle: empower the project manager;

Section - 1: Summary of Part 1;

Section - TWO: Details;

Section - 2: Introduction to Part 2;

Chapter - 05: A closer look at the steering group;

Chapter - 06: Directing the project manager;

Chapter - 07: Realizing the benefits;

Chapter - 08: Achieving quality;

Chapter - 09: Dealing with uncertainties;

Chapter - 10: Assessing documents;

Chapter - 11: Why do projects exceed their budget and what can you do about this?;

Section - 2: Summary of Part 2;

Section - THREE: Advancing project sponsorship in organizations;

Section - 3: Introduction to Part 3;

Chapter - 12: The challenge;

Chapter - 13: The approach;

Chapter - 14: Tips for training courses and workshops;

Reviews

Darren Ingram, Autamme.com

An engaging read. It was not patronising but supportive; thought provoking and positively reactive. For those who admit that they might need to brush up on their project sponsorship skills it could be a little goldmine. Even project managers could benefit from seeing things from a slightly different perspective too.

getAbstract, Inc.

getAbstract recommends this semitechnical, highly detailed, comprehensive and professional primer as an excellent resource for anyone involved in project planning, management or sponsorship.

An engaging read. It was not patronising but supportive; thought provoking and positively reactive. For those who admit that they might need to brush up on their project sponsorship skills it could be a little goldmine. Even project managers could benefit from seeing things from a slightly different perspective too.